RED ROCK SHIFTERS

Chapter Nine

(Jace's Pov)

I watched Izzy leave with my daughter and fiery anger burned its way through me. She had been so long that I had actually started to believe she'd had a change of heart and that she wasn't going to run. If she'd stayed where she was then I would have rethought my decision and this probably would have been worked out civilly as we communicated calmly about what was best for the child.

Then I had seen her sneak out the back door with the kid in tow and all of that had gone out the window. If she really thought that I was about to let her disappear with my kid a second time then she was delusional. There was nothing more important to me than family and there was no way that my kid would grow up without me.

When I'd left the club the guys had been stunned when I didn't even blink an eyelid at the news that the killer was dead and we could finally go home. When I revealed what I had found in there they all knew instantly that our mission was far from done. It said a lot about the closeness of our pack that they all immediately offered to help me with whatever I needed. I already knew what needed doing. All we'd been waiting for was Izzy. As soon as she drove away I flipped open my cell and sent the text that would seal her fate.

Mike had retrieved my bike because I hadn't wanted to leave the club in case we missed her. Now I revved the engine and glanced over at Mike and Graeme who were both waiting for my signal. I dipped my head and as one we started forward. The rumbling of the bike comforted me as it had many times before and adrenaline filled me as the thrill of the hunt consumed me. This time the hunt held a more personal ending and I knew that my prey wouldn't escape me this time.

It didn't take long for the car to come in to sight and I could see Izzy's panicked look from here. I stayed directly behind her while Graeme and Mike headed off to either side. We were all aware that there was an innocent kid in the car, my innocent kid, and there was no way that we would risk her safety. We needed to guide her to the drop zone not push her in to doing something stupid. Concern for the kid had Izzy doing exactly what we'd anticipated and she took the only opening we'd left her. Graeme had dropped back a bit, it looked to anyone else like a rookie mistake, and Izzy immediately took advantage of that. She didn't even realise the con until it was too late and her only escape was cut off by five of the pack on their bikes. She had nowhere else to go and I could see in the slump of her shoulders when she reached that conclusion and finally decided to do the sensible thing and slow down. She pulled to a stop at the last possible second and I was quick off my bike as I headed over to her.

Izzy had climbed warily from the car and was stood observing us. It pissed me off the way that she was observing us as though we were the enemy. She had stolen my kid and she had the fucking nerve to look at me as though I were the bad guy? What the hell did she think I was going to do?

"Get the kid," I ordered and the guys were quick to obey. I think we were all stunned when Izzy launched a full-scale attack that left one of my guys on the ground bleeding.

"You're not getting her," she shouted at me and I merely raised a brow at her. Did she really think that she could stop me from taking back what was mine?

"Take the car and the kid back to mine," I ordered again and her eyes widened with panic. They guys were smarter this time and they didn't wait for her to pick them off one by one but instead worked together. It didn't stop Izzy from putting three of the guys down on the ground. I'd had enough of this shit though. I'd never seen a female shifter fight as impressively as this before and any other time I would have been watching in awe as she took her victims down but my kid was at stake here. Izzy didn't even notice me behind her until I'd already wrapped my arms around her and jerked her back against me. Her arms were pinned against her body but that didn't stop her from trying to get free. She was like a wild animal and it took everything I had to restrain her. Any of the other guys wouldn't have been able to handle her and the only reason I could was because of all the training that I'd been given in my lead up to becoming alpha. I was quite impressed with her strength though and it made me even more certain that Izzy had been hiding things from me even when she'd lived in Red Rock. No shifter gets that good without some kind of training.